October 10, 2002

AXMIN PREFEASIBILITY DRILLING PROGRAM COMMENCES IN BURKINA FASO, WEST AFRICA

Toronto, Ontario – Inc. (AXM-TSX Venture) is pleased to advise that the prefeasibility drilling program at its Bouroum property in Burkina Faso is in progress. Drilling is in part targeting the near surface high grade zones at F12, Welcome Stranger and Bissinga. At F12 a high grade zone of 300,000 tonnes grading 8.9 g/t Au (86,000 ounces Au) has previously been identified within the indicated category.

In addition, results from the initial metallurgical testwork program have confirmed that gold recoveries using cyanide leach in the oxide, transition and sulphide ore lie in the range of 90 - 99%. The combination of near surface high grade resources amenable to industry standard cyanide leach techniques provides further encouragement for a positive outcome to the joint pre-feasibility study with High River Gold Mines Ltd which is scheduled for completion by the end of the year / early 2003.

The 2,000 metre combined core and reverse circulation (“RC”) program is designed to provide further material for metallurgical testwork, as well as provide confirmatory resource and geotechnical information. The Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) process has commenced with an environmental scan being undertaken by SRK Consulting.

The mineral resource at Bouroum is held in three separate but nearby deposits: the F12, Welcome Stranger and Bissinga prospects. AXMIN’s estimate the mineral resource at Bouroum (previously announced, May 14th 2002), is based on the independent review by Dr. Mike Armitage of SRK Consulting and is tabulated below:

Bouroum		Tonnes		Grade		Total contained ounces
Indicated1		2.3 Mt		3.1 g/t Au		230,000 oz Au
Inferred1		2.6 Mt		2.8 g/t Au		235,000 oz Au
1calculated at a 1 g/t Au cut-off grade.

Initial metallurgical testwork conducted by Metallurgical Design and Management (Pty) Limited (“MDM”) of South Africa was based on samples taken from archived RC and core material. MDM is a project management and engineering company with an established track record throughout Africa, they have most recently having worked on Rangold Resources and Anglogold’s Morila project in Mali. Four composite samples were prepared representing oxide, transition and sulphide material from the F12 deposit and oxide material from the Welcome Stranger deposit. Gold recovery using cyanide leach ranged from 90-99% (90% passing 150 microns) than with only modest consumption of cyanide and lime. This work confirmed previous results from programs completed on behalf of Channel Resources Limited.

AXMIN management believes that the resources so far identified across the Bouroum permit may represent only a fraction of the total potential of the permit. Previous exploration conducted on behalf of Channel Resources Ltd has allowed AXMIN to highlight seven target areas that are worthy of follow-up RAB and RC drilling in 2003.

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